Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Friday it would delay cuts in gas supplies to Belarus for one week, after Belarussian gas pipeline company Beltransgaz said the first tranche of its 460 million U.S. dollars debt had been paid.
"Belarus has today made a considerable payment as part of its debt to Gazprom for gas supplies in the first six months of 2007," the RIA Novosti news agency reported, quoting a Gazprom statement.
"Therefore, the Russian company has delayed cuts in gas supplies to consumers in Belarus," it said.
Beltransgaz announced earlier in the day that it had paid 190 million dollars as the first installment of the debt to Gazprom.
Gazprom is expecting the full debt repayment within one week and timely payments for current gas supplies, Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said.
"The first tranche, part of the debt amounting to 190 million, was transferred to Gazprom today at 8:30 a.m.," Beltransgaz's first deputy general director Tsvitomir Sorokhan was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
"At the moment our delegation in Moscow is continuing negotiations on a timeframe for the payment of the remainder, as it is technically impossible to transfer the entire amount (almost 460 million dollars) in one day," he said.
On Wednesday, Gazprom said it would cut gas supplies to the country by 45 percent as of Aug. 3 due to the debt, and lack of payment guarantees.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko promised on Friday that the debt would be paid up in full over the coming days and said the country's gold and currency reserves, a state credit from Venezuela and a credit from the Western banks would be used.
Source: Xinhua
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